The best beaches in Hawaii

Renowned the world over for their palm-fringed beaches and spectacular scenery, the ravishing islands of Hawaii poke up from the Pacific more than two thousand miles off the west coast of America. There’s nowhere better to get a fix of sun, sea and surf. To help you to get the best out of your trip, this is our pick of the best best beaches in Hawaii.

Oahu

Kailua BeachKailua Beach County Park, which fills the colossal main curve of La’aloa Bay, is utterly gorgeous – it’s the prettiest beach on the whole island – and makes an ideal family swimming spot year-round. The soft wide sands slope down into turquoise waters much used by windsurfers and kitesurfers.

Sandy BeachAvoiding the crowds is not at all the point at Sandy Beach, half a mile south of Kailua Beach, where the shoreline flattens out between Koko Crater and Makapu‘u Head. Kids from all over Oahu meet up here most weekends for the best body-surfing and boogie-boarding in Hawaii; Barack Obama famously remains a devotee. This is also one of the few places on the island where the waves remain high enough in summer to tempt pro surfers.

The Big Island (Hawai’i)

Hāpuna BeachWith its gentle turquoise waters, swaying palm groves, and above all its broad expanse of pristine white sand, Hāpuna Beach, just north of Waialea and a total of six miles north of Mauna Lani, has often been called the most beautiful beach in the United States.

Punalu‘u Beach
Punalu‘u beach is the largest black sand beach on the Big Island. Black sand is a finite resource, as it’s only created by molten lava exploding on contact with the sea, and at any one spot that happens very rarely. Even those beaches not destroyed by new lava usually erode away within a few years. Each time the coastline of Punalu‘u Bay gets redrawn, however, its black sand washes in again, piling up to create a new beach. At the moment it’s gorgeous, a crescent of jet-black crystals surrounding a turquoise bay and framed by a fine stand of coconut palms.

Green Sand Beach
Green sand beach, a couple of miles northeast of Ka Lae, doesn’t quite live up to its name. It is a beach, and it is greenish in a rusty-olive sort of way, but if you’re expecting a dazzling stretch of green sand backed by a coconut grove you’ll be disappointed. The only reason to venture here is if you feel like a hot, shadeless, four-mile hike along the oceanfront, with a mild natural curiosity at the end. Without great expectations, and on a rain-free day, it’s worth the effort.

Maui

Oneola BeachMaui’s most spectacular sweep of golden sand stretches for over half a mile south of the landmark cinder cone of Pu‘u ‘Ōla‘i, just south of Mākena. There’s not a building in sight at Oneloa Beach (literally “long sand,” and widely known as Big Beach), just perfect sands and mighty surf, backed by a dry forest of kiawe and cacti.

Kanahā Beach County Park
Kanahā Beach County Park shallow, choppy turquoise waters are ideal for novice windsurfers, who come from all over the world to swirl back and forth against the backdrop of ‘Īao Valley and the West Maui mountains.

Lanai

Shipwreck BeachLanai’s northern shoreline, however, is more commonly known as Shipwreck Beach, because countless vessels have come to grief in these shallow, treacherous waters; the coast is littered with fragments, while two large wrecks remain stuck fast a few hundred yards offshore.

Molokai

Kepuhi Beach
Although the Kaluako‘i Resort was positioned to enable guests to enjoy the long white sands of Kepuhi Beach, located directly in front of the Kaluako‘i Hotel, it’s only safe to swim here on calm summer days. Like most of the beaches of western Molokai, however, it looks fabulous and is ideal for sunset strolls.

Pāpōhaku Beach
Pāpōhaku Beach, long of 2,5 miles, is one of Hawaii’s broadest and most impressive white-sand beaches. It’s so huge that for many years it was quarried for sand, much of which was used to build an other beach in Honolulu, on Oahu.

Kauai

‘Anini Beach
All the way along, the beach is paralleled out to sea by one of the longest reefs in the state. Coral reefs take millions of years to form, so it’s not surprising that Hawaii’s largest are in the oldest region of its oldest island. This one shields an expanse of shallow, clear turquoise water that offers some of the North Shore’s safest swimming. Snorkelers and scuba-divers explore the reef; if it’s calm enough, you can peek at the huge drop-off beyond its outer edge. Other than during winter surf, the Kauai‘s only area to avoid is around the outlet of the ‘Anini Stream at the western end, which is plagued by treacherous currents that sweep out through a gap in the reef. The inshore area is a good place to learn to windsurf, but surfing and boogie-boarding are largely precluded by the jagged coral where the waves break.

Kalalau BeachKalalau Valley, the largest of the Nā Pali valleys at almost a mile wide and two miles deep, is home to Kalalau beach. To access it isn’t an easy task, bathers will first have to become hikers and to borrow Kalalau trail. After 10 miles they will finally deserve to discover Kalalau’s lovely white-sand beach. The only beach along the trail to retain its sand year-round, this nonetheless varies greatly with the seasons. In winter it’s a narrow shelf little more than 100 yards long, while in summer enough sand piles up for you to round the tumbled boulders and continue west for half a mile.